Scams Against Elderly Americans Are Getting Worse, and Crypto Is Often Involved — Barrons.com
By David WignallElderly Americans are increasingly falling victim to impersonation scams, the Federal Trade Commission is warning. Since 2020, the number of reports to the FTC from older adults who say they lost $10,000 or more to impersonation scams has quadrupled.Last year, Americans age 60 and older reported losing $700 million to impersonation fraud, compared with $122 million in losses in 2020. Most of the increase was driven by high-dollar theft: Reports of scams involving more than $100,000 increased eight times over the last four years, while losses of less than $10,000 merely doubled.The scams tend to follow a similar playbook. First, consumers receive messages warning them of an urgent issue, such as a compromised bank account, alleged criminal activity using their social security number, or a false hacking scare. Scammers — posing as government officials or employees at reputable companies like Microsoft — then tell victims to transfer funds, purportedly to help keep their money safe.Although anyone can be a victim of an impersonation scam, the FTC says the elderly have been disproportionately harmed. Americans over 60 were twice as likely to report losing $10,000 or more compared with those under 60. They were three times as likely to report a loss of $100,000.Many of the scams are enabled by cryptocurrency transfers, which are irreversible, decentralized, and can move money instantaneously around the globe. One-third of older adults who reported losing $10,000 or more said they used cryptocurrency as the method of payment. Most of those victims specifically mentioned Bitcoin ATMs — physical kiosks that allow customers to transfer money from credit or debit cards directly into cryptocurrency.Crypto-enabled fraud has been rising rapidly. In 2024, the FBI reported that consumers lost $9.3 billion to cryptocurrency fraud, a staggering 66% increase over 2023.To avoid falling victim to a scam, the FTC recommends that consumers never transfer money in response to an unexpected call or message, even if the goal is to "protect it." Users should also hang up unanticipated phone calls and dial companies or agencies directly.The rise in impersonation scams comes amid a broader fraud wave. In March, the FTC found that consumers reported losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024 — a 25% increase over 2023. The SEC's Office of the Investor Advocate observed a 142% increase in reports of security fraud violations in 2024 compared with the previous year.Write to [email protected] content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.